This invention relates generally to disengageable electrical connectors, and in particular to arrangements for maintain such connectors in assembled relationship with circuit boards.
More particularly the present invention relates to means for locking or clamping a printed circuit board such as, for example, a large scale integrated circuit board, to a series of contacts in a connector.
In the electrical connection of a printed circuit board having no protruded conductor therefrom, such as an integrated circuit board or a large scale integrated (LSI) circuit board, to another printed circuit board, it is necessary to use a connector.
Generally the connector of this type consists of a base member made of dielectric material and is provided with a series of contacts along each of the edges or peripheries of the base mamber so as to correspond to a plurality of connecting foil strips arranged along each side of the circuit board. The contact has a resilient head portion at one end thereof and the other end is extended through the base member and protruded therefrom to form a conductor which may be soldered to a connecting apperture or socket of the other circuit board.
In the past, a cover plate having an opening in the central portion of the plate is used, when an integrated circuit board is mounted on a connector. That is, the integrated circuit board is sandwiched in between the cover plate and the base member of the connector so as to contact the foil strips of the circuit board with the corresponding contacts of the connector, and then the cover plate is fixed to the base member by means of threaded pins in order to press fit the foil strips of the circuit board to the contacts of the base member.
Sometimes, however, the cover plate and the circuit boards are subjected to a bending that tends to exert a maximum amount of deflection in a position between the fixed points of the cover plate, and therefore, it is disadvantageous that the retentive forces applied to the strips and the contacts are insufficient to insure positive contact of the connecting strips of the circuit board to the contacts of the base member.
In such an arrangement as mentioned above, the deflection of each of the cover plate and the base member in general increases with an increase in the number of the strips of the circuit board. It is necessary to use a thicker cover plate or to reinforce the cover plate in order to avoid the above described deflection. This, however, increases the cover plate is size, and is undesirable.
With the use of a number of threaded pins, it becomes considerably more complicated to assemble the cover plate, the circuit board and the base member of the connector, and also requires much more space therefor.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement wherein a circuit board such as an integrated circuit board or especially a large scale integrated circuit board is supported by the connector in a manner to resist flexure of the circuit board.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement in which an integrated circuit board and the base member of a connector are mechanically locked together without using a cover plate.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement mentioned above which may easily be assembled and disassembled.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement in which an integrated circuit board and the base of a connector are mechanically locked without flexing them in accordance with the resilient pressure of the terminals.
These and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following description and appended drawings.